Germany’s scrap imports fell 15% during first half of 2015

BERLIN (Scrap Monster): According to preliminary customs data, scrap imports by Germany has dropped significantly during the initial six-month period of the year. The half-yearly scrap imports by the country dropped by more than 15% when compared with the previous year.

The German scrap imports totaled 2.306 million tonnes during January to June this year. The imports during the period have dropped by 15.3% when compared with the previous year. Germany had imported 2.723 million tonnes of scrap during the initial six-month period in 2014.

Majority of the imports originated from EU countries. The imports from EU countries totaled 2.003 million tonnes, constituting nearly 87% of the total imports by Germany during the six-month period. However, overall imports from EU countries registered sharp decline of over 18% during the initial half of the year when compared with a year ago. On the other hand, scrap imports from the Czech Republic surged higher by 86% to 84,400 tonnes. The imports from Poland too climbed higher by 30% over the previous year to 90,500 tonnes. The imports from Russia almost doubled during the six-month period to 69,300 tonnes.

The scrap imports from the EU countries have registered significant improvement during May and June. The combined imports during these two months grew nearly 13% to 376,200 tonnes. The imports from non-EU countries dropped considerably during May to June this year. Imports from Norway plunged by 51% to 12,000 tonnes, whereas those from Switzerland dropped marginally by 1.5% to 20,200 tonnes.

Meantime, the latest statistics provided by the German Steel Recycling Federation (BDSV) indicates that scrap prices continued to fall during the month of August this year. The average prices witnessed a decline of €18 per ton during the month. Old scrap prices quoted at €166 per ton, whereas shredded scrap prices dropped to €192 per ton. The prices of new arisings declined to €184 per ton during Aug ’15.